When America was first formed, the executive branch included a Department of War. Now, some eight decades after that was renamed the Department of Defense, the Trump administration is returning to the original name.
Secretary of Defense — or rather, now Secretary of War — Pete Hegseth posted on X Thursday evening, “DEPARTMENT OF WAR.” He also shared a Fox News report stating, “White House reveals it will bring back the Department of War name for the Department of Defense.”
President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Friday restoring the name “Department of War” to the federal agency that has been called the Department of Defense (DOD) since 1947. The executive order will not totally erase the name Defense Department immediately, but it does instruct Hegseth to take the proper steps to ensure that “Department of War” becomes the permanent name again, instead of a secondary name, according to Fox News.
Likewise, implementing the order will require modifications to public-facing websites and office signage at the Pentagon, including renaming the public affairs briefing room the “Pentagon War Annex,” according to a White House official. Other longer-term projects also are in the works, the official said.
The change is not wholly unexpected. Trump indicated before that he wanted to return the DOD to its original name. “Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War,” the president told reporters on Aug. 25. “Then we changed it to Department of Defense.” it is true that ever since the name changed, there has also been a shift in policy and a lack of major victories in war.
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Trump has even on occasion referred to Hegseth as the “secretary of war,” Fox noted.
The U.S. House of Representatives’ History, Art & Archives explains that it was the very first president, George Washington, who ensured the establishment of the War Department. In August of 1789:
President George Washington signed into law a bill that established the U.S. War Department. The measure had moved through the First Federal Congress with relatively little controversy. With Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., of Connecticut presiding over the Committee of the Whole, the House debated the authorization bill in late June 1789. Pro-Administration Representative Egbert Benson of New York introduced an amendment to include a phrase to the effect that the War Department Secretary would be “removable by the President,” …The entire bill passed the House easily on June 27, with little debate in an unrecorded vote. Soon thereafter, the Senate passed the bill. In choosing the department’s first secretary, President Washington preferred continuity. He nominated Henry Knox—a key aide during the American Revolution and, since 1785, the secretary of war under the Articles of Confederation.
And the War Department it remained until 1947 under Democrat Harry Truman, when the federal government merged multiple departments, including the War Department, into the Department of Defense.
I’m all in favor of restoring American history and American values in the federal government. As bringing back the Department of War is a part of the Trump administration’s move to make our military stronger, tougher, and more intimidating, it is a welcome change.
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